Deanna Doss Shrodes

Never would I have considered this transformational, but to hear the guests who come to dinner at my home talk, it is. So, I'm sharing it with you today. You can name your firstborn after me thank me later. People who "don't cook" are especially going to thank me. Yes, I know you're out there. You're the one who signs up for the church covered dish dinners, telling the lady in charge: "Just to let you know, I don't cook..." hoping to sign up for rolls in a bag or a bakery item. Or soda. ("Pop", for those of you in places like southwest Pennsylvania or Ohio.) You feel like you're the only one. You're not. You've been teased. You've been mocked. You've been misunderstood. Nobody grasps your plight where it concerns the culinary disadvantages that are your reality. I'm here to help you overcome all that. It's a new day, my friend. Your days of taking pop to potlucks are OVER. [Shout now!] ...

The word of the day is: scurry. Scurry    Verb; to go or move quickly or in haste.   This weekend is our Christmas open house for church leadership. It takes me about two and a half days to get ready for this, and it's always a great time. Today I'm cooking up a storm and scurrying to get the house ready as well. Some posts from previous Christmas open houses are here at this link , if you'd like to get some ideas and other recipes if you're having a holiday party.  One of the favorite recipes I always serve at this event is hot crab dip. So simple and so good.  Hot Crab Dip Ingredients: 1 cup crab meat (I prefer white - jumbo lump, not claw) 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese 1 cup sour cream ¼ cup mayonnaise ¼ tsp onion salt 1 tsp. dry mustard ¾ tsp. Worcestershire sauce Old Bay Seasoning to taste Directions:  I use a variety of crab meat depending on what is available. If fresh is available I...

Happy Sunday!! Anyone enjoying the cinnamon banana oatmeal recipe I posted yesterday ? Yummo!   Today I'm blogging at a place dear to my heart ~ Lost Daughters , where I'm the Spiritual Columnist. The topic is: The Beauty of Coming Out of the Fog and Finally Being True to Ourselves. If you'd like to follow me there, c'mon over! Either way, have a FAB-ulous day! Mine will be super busy with church and a newcomers gathering at our home. I always enjoy these nights of welcoming people into our home and the church family.  This is day 28 of the church 40-day fast. God has been breaking through in some areas we've long prayed for. I can hardly wait to see what He's going to do today!  

In my book, JUGGLE , I give a lot of tips about setting ourselves up for success on  hectic days. One of my favorite things to do is to prepare something for breakfast the night before and wake up to it. This recipe is one I found this past year and I love doing this on Saturday nights as it makes Sunday morning breakfast easy and super yummy. It's all ready when we wake up -- all we need to d o is dish it up and eat it.    While the recipe calls for ba nanas I also sometimes use dried cherries.It calls for old fashioned oats, but sometimes I also use steel cut oats, which is one of my favorites. When I am making it with cherries, I omit the cinnamon and instead use a teaspoon of almond flavoring. FANTASTIC either way! Definite ly be sure to use the non-stick cooking spray and note that sometimes I have to soak my crock pot for a while to get it clean afterwards, but it's worth it.  

  Lately we've been watching old home movies at our house and turning them from VHS to DVD. The kids have been watching them and just loving it! So much that Jordan has requested that we record Christmas day, at our house this year. Seriously! It looks like we're actually going to do that.   We love traditions at our home especially during the holidays.  Tonight we have Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion at the church.  It's one of our most special times of the year.  Afterwards we go out for Chinese food.  (Usually a Chinese buffet.) We've done that for 25 years now, since the very first year Larry and I were married. We started it because after all the preparation I do in cooking and cleaning for Christmas, we've already got a full refrigerator, and the last thing I want to do is MORE cooking.  Today I'm putting the finishing touches on all the home festivities for tomorrow. When we wake up we enjoy what the kids call  "sweet ro...

Let's dream together... What if we all managed to show our husband or wife in just one way, every day, how much we love them? It wouldn't always have to be something big or dramatic. Although on occasion, big and dramatic is good. On most days, it could be as simple as bringing them a cup of coffee in bed, or warming up the car before they get in it (or cooling it down if you live in Florida). Perhaps it would mean taking initiative to do a chore for them that they absolutely hate to do. Or maybe making time to join them in the shower before work? Just imagine...what if? What if we all did at least one thing each day? The awesome thing is, we don't have to stop at dreaming...this can be our reality.  Recently I blogged about how to get through to your spouse when nothing else is working. I shared about appealing to their five senses in communicating.  A reader mentioned the book The Five Love Languages in the comments of the post. I love the book and highly rec...

Our Max ~ he's loving Christmas! We love traditions at our home especially during the holidays.  Tonight we have Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion at the church.  It's one of our most special times of the year.  Everyone loves it!   Afterwards we go out for Chinese food.  We've done that for 25 years now, since the very first year Larry and I were married. We started it because after all the preparation I do in cooking and cleaning for christmas, we've already got a full refrigerator, and I'm tired.  The last thing I want to do is MORE cooking. So, we go for Christmas Eve and invite anyone who wants to join us to come.  The past few years we've gone with at least 20-30 people.  It's a lot of fun. Today I'm putting the finishing touches on all the home festivities for tomorrow. When we wake up we're going to have what the kids call  "sweet rolls".  They loooooooove these and we always have them on holidays. I make them with a but...

We'll serve this dish tonight -- another popular one at our leadership Christmas party and many other functions. Being that I'm from Baltimore, I love seafood and anything that contains crabmeat.  Old Bay Seasoning makes it into many things we eat in our house all year round.  I use it to season everything from my chicken salad (yes, that's the extra "yum" ingredient that everyone wonders about that gives the chicken salad it's extra special flavor), to soups to many other things. If you take this to a party be prepared for people to ask you for the recipe! Hot Crab Dip 2 cans crab meat (I always use white, not claw.  And, I use fresh crab meat if it's available.  If it's fresh I use 1 cup.) 2 packages of cream cheese softened to room temperature 1 cup sour cream ¼ cup mayonnaise ¼ tsp onion salt 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning and extra to sprinkle on top Mix cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, onion salt, dry...

Things are super busy today getting ready for our leadership Christmas open house.  I have a lot on my mind to write about but not a lot of time to do that adequately. So, I'm going simple and posting a recipe  -- one of the favorites that we serve at the party.  People love, love, love this and it's so easy to put together.  Enjoy. Artichoke Dip 8 ounces softened cream cheese 12 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup parmesan cheese 2 small jars or 1 larger jar marinated artichoke hearts Drain artichokes well.  Tear apart with fingers and put in mixing bowl.  Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl, well.  Bake in greased casserole dish 30 minutes at 350.  Serve hot with Ritz crackers. 

I love mexican food, but most of it is so high in caloric content and mexican restaurants are difficult for me to stay on program.  I realize the following isn't mexican food that is on par with authentic meals that I would get at my two favorite places where I live however it's a simple and easy lunch that fulfills that "mexican craving".  I created this idea myself based upon my own tastes and maybe the idea will be a blessing to someone else.  With the measurements I use, it's a filling lunch that only costs me about 6 WW Points Plus. Get a package of fresh ground turkey breast.  Cook it up and add a package of Ortega taco seasoning and 3/4 cup of water and stir over low heat until cooked through.  I use Ortega because it's also available in low sodium which I need for health reasons. Once this is cooked and ready you have it to use for several lunches during the week, in fact it will make more than enough to have this for lunch every day if you want to...

Allow me to introduce you to my latest love affair that I'm having at lunch.  So yummy!  Try this... Take a whole wheat Sandwich Thin (Arnold brand pictured here.  Right now my favorite are the "All Natural Flax & Fiber" ones.) Spread 1 Tbsp of Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese on it  Top with a 2 slices of low fat turkey breast or low fat roast beef on it.  (I also get low sodium) Enjoy!  (6 pts. on WW Plus) I am absolutely crazy about this and eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner at times.  Simple, and deeeelicious!  Sometimes if I have the extra point and want more cream cheese I add one more Tbsp. This week I have enjoyed it as well as another new lunch love, introduced to me by my friend Patrice Migliore Viscuso (a friend from bible college days, also a fellow Weight Watcher).  The follow soup has ZERO points.  That's right, nada, zip, ZERO!  I'm a soup lover and eat it even in the summe...

This is so yummo! It's the latest thing makin' my mouth happy and my waistline slimmer!  (All of the ingredients aren't low calorie but using what ones you can certainly helps out.) Our staff came over for Easter dinner and everybody brought something to share to go along with the ham we made at our house.  Our children's pastors brought the following dish and I could have had it as my whole meal.  I said, "please, please, please, I beg you to bring that to every gathering we have that includes food..." We are all watching our weight and this is a dish that has low calorie/fat ingredients but I promise it does not skimp on flavor.  Try it, you'll love it!  By the way, they did not bake it as indicated in this recipe, they brought it to the church in a crock pot and cooked it there and then just brought it to our home after church. Crowd Pleasing Vegetable Casserole Ingredients 1 can (26 ounces) Campbells Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup Fat Free...

Weight, that is.   Last night at my Weight Watcher meeting I reached my 5% goal ~ that means losing 5% of my original body weight.  It feels great by the way! I am seeing changes in my health which was the catalyst the brought me back to a WW meeting.  Two weeks ago my leader shared some of the great things that can happen with your health just by losing 5% and it really fueled me up to push to get to this goal and move beyond.  I love my new WW leader and my new WW class.  There's a married couple there that I just adore ~ their names are Hector and Sandy and together they have lost over 100 pounds!  They have fabulous ideas for success and last week Hector shared with me about 3 point mini cheesecakes which have become my new treat.   Sandy told me about bagel thins which have now also become a favorite.  I have a sweet tooth -- I don't need to "over indulge" but I really crave a little something sweet everyday, either with a cup of tea i...

Yesterday Savanna said, "Mom can we pleeeease make some gourmet pretzels for my teachers and friends at school?" [Insert deep breath here] Today is her last day of school before the holiday break so it had to be done last night.  I'm swamped with working double time at the church not to mention work at NextJob to be off a few days at Christmas not to mention getting Christmas together for my own household - everything from gifts to food.  I haven't even started getting everything ready for the plethora of things we make on Christmas day for dinner and dessert with friends here at the house.  But...I said yes.  Larry says, "why, why, why do you never say no to these things, Deanna?!"  (He sees my exhaustion at times and wonders why I do these things but honestly it's hard to say no to a pleading child who wants to give to others, and make memories, etc...  Perhaps only a Mom can understand.)  Anyway, "we" didn't end up making them --...

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6,7 NIV The other day I was praying while some worship music played on my Zune and God spoke to  me and said, "turn that off and go play for me."  So I did.  And He gave me a beautiful (original) song based on this scripture above.  This verse is one of my favorites and it's in my heart all the time and just came naturally flowing out as I was at the piano.    I tend to focus on the "do not be anxious" part of this verse and the "present your requests to God" part, and the "peace of God transcending understanding" part but this week as I read it once more I noticed the word "thanksgiving" there.  I've always known it was there but it didn't really "...

If you're like me you are exhausted at the end of the day when you come home from work and the last thing you want to do is get involved in cooking a big meal.  (That's why I love cooking on my day off.  Cooking is one of my favorite things to do but I dread it when I'm tired.) I had jury duty yesterday in Dade City and planned ahead the night before for something really simple for dinner as I didn't know when I'd get home.   I re-created one of my favorite restaurant items for our family's dinner  and most of the preparation was done Sunday night, allowing me to throw dinner together on Monday night in about 5-10 minutes! The following was my at home version of Crispers Southwest Salad, which is my favorite thing on the menu there.  It is served at Crispers with Jalapeno Ranch Dressing.  I couldn't find that in the store and made my own version at home using a bottle of Ken's Lite Ranch, and  1 jalapeno.  I washed and seeded the pepper, ...

This is what I'm making for tonight.  We're having a dessert night in Fusion tonight, and a Q & A session with Larry and I on the subject of courageous parenting!   This cake is TO LIVE FOR!!!  You will LOVE it.  Now, it needs NO ICING .  Please do not frost it, you would ruin it for sure.  (This is a little drizzle of chocolate syrup that's on it in the photo but really it needs nothing.  I have experimented and sprinkled it with powdered sugar before but even that was totally unnecessary.)  It's absolutely PERFECTO by itself just like it is.  One bite and you'll be hooked.   Really, I promise.  It's the most moist, dark, delicious semi-sweet chocolate cake you have EVER had.  Serve it with a side scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Your guests will moan the whole time they are eating it.   I have served this at countless dinners and special occasions. Dark Chocolate Cake 1 box of devil's food cake mix...

Quick!  Do you need something to take with you to a party today?  Might want to follow my lead and take this...you and your guests will LOVE it!!   You might even have all the ingredients in your pantry and fridge. Today we're going to our friends, the Currie's for a Labor Day dinner party.  We always look forward to times like this and usually when we get together with them it's a collaborative effort of everyone in attendance bringing a dish.  Today I've chosen to bring my Mashed Potato Casserole which is an amazing recipe that I got from my friend, Rhonda Flint.   She gave me this recipe many years ago and I've been bringing it to events ever since. It's not exactly friendly to your waistline but for special occasions now and then, it's just the ticket! Mashed Potato Casserole 5 lb. bag potatoes 1 stick of melted butter 8 oz. Sour cream 8 oz. Cream Cheese 8 oz. Cheddar Cheese 1 lb. Of Cooked and Crumbled Bacon 1 Med-Large Onion, chopped Cook and mas...

Last night Larry and Savanna and I went with Eddie and Candy to Sarasota for the evening.  While there we were in a store that had lovely things ~ clothes, purses, housewares, all in a very elegant environment.  However, I think some child or perhaps a very immature adult had gone in amongst a lovely display of monogrammed purses and did a little "creative rearranging."  All of a sudden amidst our shopping, Savanna loudly declares, "Oh my gosh, does that say POOP??!!"   We looked over and burst out laughing to the point of tears and couldn't stop for a while.  Candy and I had been looking around the displays and had not even noticed the word the purses had spelled out but Savanna noticed it the first second she laid eyes on it.   She's not only prophetic, she's observant!  :)  Candy and I were laughing too hard to do anything about it but Savanna pulled out her phone to take a picture. In other news, today is life coaching!  Yay!...